Colombo, Oct 27 (newsin.asia) – Many Sri Lankan car vendors, on Friday slashed the prices of small cars in a bid to boost sales ahead of the country’s budget which will be presented to Parliament in November.
According to local media, small car specialists such as AMW slashed the prices of popular Suzuki Celerio and Alto models by up to Sri Lankan 370,000 rupees (an estimated 2400 dollars), in order to clear their stock ahead of the budget, which is expected to drastically reduce the duty on small vehicles.
“Special advantage of Rs. 370,000 before budget and not to be repeated,” said an advertisement by AMW which was published by local newspapers.
Second hand car sales slowed sharply last week following expectations that customs duties on electric and mid-size vehicles will be slashed in Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s maiden budget, the EconomyNext reported.
Sellers of Nissan Leaf electric cars were seen advertising repeatedly last month, but there were hardly any takers as news of the possible tariff reduction had spread.
The duty reduction is expected to apply to small cars with an engine capacity under 1,000 cc and electric cars with a motor of 80 kilo watts or less.
Taxes on commercial and agricultural vehicles are also expected to be brought down.
In August, the minister slashed tax on single cab vehicles by 300,000 rupees and also lifted the 100 percent ad volarem tax on small motorcycles, mainly those imported directly from Japan.
